Search form

Ghana Bamboo Bikes

The Ghana Bamboo Bikes is a socio ecological green initiative that addresses the quadruple problems of climate change, poverty, rural-urban migration and high unemployment amongst the youth in rural Ghana by creating employment opportunities and sustainable livelihood job skills for the youth through the building of high quality handcrafted second generation bamboo bikes for the international export markets. We also manufacture multipurpose second generation bamboo bikes that are suitable for the high terrain and rough roads and purposeful for the local needs using native bamboo. We believe that business opportunities exists in all the areas of Ghana and are committed to improving the standard of living of young Ghanaians through the creation of sustainable social enterprises. We are committed to promoting fair trade, treating people fairly, profit sharing with builders, creating environmentally responsible products that contribute in reducing climate change commitment to protect the environment and promoting environmental awareness. Bamboo bikes have great riding characteristics due to bamboo's natural vibration-damping qualities. The vibration damping is a performance advantage on longer rides, reducing fatigue and shock associated with carbon frames. It is appropriate for racing and for everyday use.

ECO FRIENDLY: They are organic, sustainable, non-polluting and recyclable. Steel, aluminum and titanium frames all require high levels of energy to produce from extraction to extrusion, before being suitable for bicycle manufacture. Carbon fibre also requires a lot of energy to produce in its controlled oxidation, carbonization and graphitization. The graphitization process in particular is highly energy intensive, requiring temperatures of ~2600°C for high strength fibers or ~3000°C for high modulus (elastic) fibers.

NATURAL DAMPING: Unique shock-absorbing quality that provides a sturdy, yet comfortable ride for the biker. The composite nature of bamboo gives it an enviable advantage over carbon for absorbing road shocks and vibrations. By absorbing shock, yet remaining incredibly stiff, the rider experiences a rare combination a forgiving, performance frame.

LOAD BEARING CAPACITY: In terms of load bearing capacity, a square inch of bamboo can carry a weight of 500 pounds, and its tensile strength is 28,000 newtons, compared to 23,000 for steel. And it has good vibrational characteristics because it’s a fibrous species. Another advantage of bamboo is the ability to choose any part of the tapered, hollow stalk to suit a rider's preference and size: heavier rider, wider part of the bamboo; lighter rider, narrower part.

Projects:

The Ghana Bamboo Bikes shall offer basic course and practical lessons on building bamboo bikes as a way of encouraging entrepreneurship and providing sustainable livelihood job skills for the youth of Ghana. The Academy will be located on the premises of our factory. The 200 hour bamboo bike manufacturing and bike mechanics apprenticeship course will teach the youth how to manufacture and assemble bamboo bikes, fix their bamboo bikes in addition to selling bikes parts and accessories and graduate participants into jobs at local area bike shops and other bike related businesses upon completion. By teaching bicycle repair, we hope to demystify the mechanical aspects of bicycles in order to help empower cyclists to make the most of their vehicles. The bicycle mechanics course will empower the youth with the skills to do a full tune-up, plus more advanced work overhauling rotational systems. Using hands on approach, participants will learn how to fix a flat, adjust brakes, gears, bearings, and learn about overhaul of hubs, chains, lubrication, and general diagnosis.

As a way of stimulating interest in the bamboo bike riding, our bicycle library will give bamboo bikes for rentals popularly known as 'kobo-kobo’ and would be teaching adults, most of whom never learned as children how to ride bicycles. The school will offer a series of bicycling skills classes to help bicyclists learn to ride more safely and effectively. We will covers bike-safety principles, bicycling laws, guidelines for riding in traffic and more that gives cyclists the confidence they need to ride safely and legally in traffic or on the trail. The class will cover bicycle safety checks, fixing a flat and basic maintenance, emergency maneuvers, left turns, crash avoidance techniques, riding in the dark, etc. prepare cyclists for a full understanding of vehicular cycling.